The Student
- Yadi Martínez-Reyna
- Sep 9, 2015
- 2 min read
Scripture “God has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
A Word of Hope
The ministry of Cathedral of Hope for young people extends beyond the walls of our youth room. Many are the stories of young people we help, pray for, or encourage through the week. This past winter I met a young person living in the streets. Recently I received a call from this young person and she sounded upset and agitated. I had heard she had attempted suicide again and I believed this call was possibly about that. What she told me next left me speechless. My friend went to a Dallas University and applied to be in a pre-med program. She
had been accepted to this University with a partial scholarship. Feeling vulnerable and optimistic at the same time she returned this University to test and finalized paperwork. My young friend scored so high she was given a full scholarship to attend this University and was enrolled immediately in advanced college courses.
I was excited for her but she was still agitated and frustrated. My young friend did not fit in. She was still living in the streets, with dirty clothes, a skateboard as transportation and hungry. I encouraged my young friend to stay the course and I mobilized our young people’s ministry team to assist. Within 24 hours we had found our friend a bicycle, a computer, clothes, food, and a safe place to stay. God was not only restoring her broken spirit through all this love and support but opening the door with an incredible opportunity to escape life in the streets.
God requires us to be practitioners of justice and we do not always know what that means. Justice was not served when her parents abandoned her, and she became a product of her environment. Sometimes we don’t know how to help. To me this means an invitation to step into the shoes of a person who is broken. Sometimes simply offering someone a smile, a pat on the back and word of encouragement is exactly what someone needs. My young future doctor friend remembered our conversations and reached out. God is good beyond our dreams and we are ambassadors of faith and grace.
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